Ethiopia
Community Security and Justice
The design of the programme is still being completed, so activities will be defined shortly.
UN-AU Review Meeting on the African Union draft SSR Policy
The African Union finalised a draft SSR policy framework. The aim of this framework is to provide a continental vision that empowers Member States to implement relevant national security sector reforms in a coherent and well coordinated manner.
Within the framework of the AU-UN strategic partnership on SSR, the UN SSR Unit supported the AU with a technical review meeting, in Addis Ababa, to review the zero draft, AU SSR Policy Paper.
Building on ISSAT’s earlier support to the AU-UN strategic partnership, the UN SSR Unit requested ISSAT to participate in and contribute its experience to the event. ISSAT participated in a three-day consultative meeting to discuss the draft SSR Policy Paper. The meeting took place at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Support to GFN-ASSN SSR Training Workshop in Ethiopia
The UK has requested that DCAF/ISSAT provide support to an SSR training programme for Ethiopian SSR stakeholders (security institutions, parliamentarians) from 8 – 10 March 2010 in Addis Ababa.
The Course is designed and facilitated by the GFN-SSR in collaboration with the African Security Sector Network (ASSN) and builds on earlier UK-based GFN courses with significant Ethiopian participation. It thus brings together international and in particular African expertise to support capacity building in this context.
The course aims to give an overview of SSR and its constituent parts, as well as provide an opportunity for discussion of good and bad practice in SSR and issues to bear in mind when developing SSR programmes and projects.
DCAF/ISSAT will run a practical exercise relating to the implementation of SSR programmes on the ground. The exercise simulates the current situation in a specific SSR context and addresses the challenges faced in moving from a national strategy to a concrete, prioritised and funded SSR programme.
The course and the ISSAT session will be assessed by course participants using GFN-SSR’s standard template. This will include an assessment of whether participant expectations were met by course content and structure.
Videos
State and non-state perceptions of Security
Dr Kwesi Sansculotte-Greenidge, Research Fellow in the Centre for International Cooperation and Security (CICS), Department of Peace Studies, discusses his research on Security Sector Reform in the context of Ethiopia and the divergence and convergence in perceptions of security across society.
Podcasts
Session du Groupe de haut niveau sur la SSR (Afrique de l'Est): L’approche et l’implication de la EAC et de la IGAD sur la RSS en Afrique de l
Modérateur: M. Gabriel Negatu, Directeur régional du Centre de ressources pour l'Afrique de l'Est, Banque africaine de développement (BAD))
Intervenants:
Dr. Julius T. Rotich, Secrétaire Général Adjoint de la Communauté d’Afrique de l’Est (EAC) chargé de la Fédération Politique
M. David W. Njoka, Directeur des Affaires Politiques, Ministère pour la Communauté d'Afrique de l'Est, Kenya
Commandant Abebe Muluneh Beyene, Directeur du Programme du Secteur de la sécurité de l’IGAD (ISSP)
Dr. Medhane Tadesse Gebresilassie, Conseiller principal du Réseau Africain du Secteur de la Sécurité (ASSN) auprès de l’Union Africaine
Policy and Research Papers
No Ownership, No Commitment: A Guide to Local Ownership of Security Sector Reform
The principle of local ownership of SSR will have little import if it is treated simply as a romantic and woolly concept. In practical terms it means that the reform of security
policies, institutions and activities in a given country must be designed, managed and implemented by local actors rather than external actors.
The principle is misconstrued if it is understood to mean that there must be a high level of domestic support for donor activities. What is required is not local support for donor programmes and projects but rather donor support for programmes and projects initiated by local actors. The question for donor governments is not “how can we undertake SSR in partner countries?” but “how can we support local actors who want to undertake SSR in partner countries?”.
The principle does not preclude donors seeking to stimulate and encourage local interest in SSR. Nor does it preclude international actors putting pressure on governments whose security forces violate human rights. Nevertheless, the actual reform of the security sector must be shaped and driven by local actors.
Books
Budgeting for the Military Sector in Africa
In this comprehensive study, 12 experts describe and analyse the military budgetary processes and degree of oversight and control in eight African countries-Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and South Africa-spanning the continent's sub-regions. Each country study addresses a wide range of questions, such as the roles of the finance and defence ministries, budget offices, audit departments and external actors in the military budgetary processes; the extent ofcompliance with standard public expenditure management procedures; and how well official military expenditure figures reflect the true economic resources devoted to military activities in these countries. The framework for the country studies is provided by a detailed model for good practice in budgeting for the military sector. The individual studies are tied together by a synthesis chapter, which provides a comparative analysis of the studies, classifies the eight countries according to theiradherence to the principles of public expenditure management and explains why individual countries find themselves with a certain classification. The book draws on the results of the country studies and their analysis by making concrete recommendations to the governments of African countries and the international community. While the military sector in many African states is believed to be favoured in terms of resource allocation and degree of political autonomy, it is not subject to the samerules and procedures as other sectors. Because of the unique role of the armed forces as the guarantor of national security, and their demand for a high degree of confidentiality in certain activities, the military sector receives a significant proportion of state resources and is not subject to public scrutiny. The book argues that while the military sector requires some confidentiality it should be subject to the same standard procedures and rules followed by other state sectors.
Security and Post-Conflict Reconstruction: Dealing with Fighters in the Aftermath of War
This book provides a critical analysis of the changing discourse and practice of post-conflict security-promoting interventions since the Cold War, such as disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR), and security-sector reform (SSR)
Although the international aid and security sectors exhibit an expanding appetite for peace-support operations in the 21st Century, the effectiveness of such interventions are largely untested. This book aims to fill this evidentiary gap and issues a challenge to 'conventional' approaches to security promotion as currently conceived by military and peace-keeping forces, drawing on cutting-edge statistical and qualitative findings from war-torn areas including Afghanistan, Timor Leste, Sudan, Uganda, Colombia and Haiti. By focusing on specific cases where the United Nations and others have sought to contain the (presumed) sources of post-conflict violence and insecurity, it lays out a new research agenda for measuring success or failure